ESPN Digital Media reached 71.6 million unique visitors in the U.S. in July, topping in the sports category for the 17th straight month. Fans spent 82 minutes per user with ESPN content across platforms, more time than any of the other top properties in the sports category.

ESPN.com garnered 54.5 million total unique visitors in the fourth month since launch. 41.1 million people visited the site via smartphones and tablets in July, and 67 percent of ESPN.com users exclusively accessed the site on a mobile device.

More results from the July comScore Multi-Platform report:

espnW continued its run of strong traffic, notching its third-largest monthly unique visitor total ever with 7.4 million, trailing only highs set in April and June of this year.

Grantland scored its second-highest monthly unique visitor count ever with 7.2 million in July. The site’s three highest monthly unique visitor totals have come in the past three months (No. 1 in May, No. 3 in June).

57.6 million unique users accessed ESPN web and app content on smartphones and tablets, which means more fans accessed ESPN content from mobile devices only than any other sports property attracted across all platforms. ESPN mobile visitors generated 3.3 billion minutes of usage.

67 percent of ESPN’s unique users – 48.2 million people – exclusively accessed content on smartphones and tablets. This is the 16th consecutive month that more than half of ESPN’s digital users came only from mobile devices.

56 percent of all time spent with ESPN digital content was consumed by mobile device users, the 15th consecutive month that smartphones and tablets contributed a larger share of usage to ESPN’s digital total than desktop and laptop computers.

ESPN accounted for the top two sports apps on smartphones and tablets in July. The ESPN app topped the category for unique visitors (16.1 million), with WatchESPN at No. 2 (4.3 million).

ESPN’s portfolio of apps generated 2.0 billion minutes of usage, accounting for 36 percent of all time spent with apps in the Sports Category, 89 percent higher than the No. 2 property (MLB, 19 percent)

ESPN reached 10.6 million people per day via smartphones in July, more than the next two sports properties combined (Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network, 4.5 million; Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network, 4.1 million).

n the average day in July ESPN web and app properties were accessed by 4.4 million millennial males (age 18-34) via smartphones. ESPN ranked ninth among the more than 6,000 mobile entities reported by comScore, ahead of Spotify (3.6 million) and Buzzfeed (1.3 million), among many others.

Additional results from ESPN Research & Analytics:

5.2 million unique devices streamed WatchESPN and ESPN3 content in July, as viewers spent 1.03 billion minutes with programming across all platforms. 1

Fans watched 357.3 million ESPN digital video clips in July across all touch points.1

<66 percent of all ESPN platform clips (309.3 million) were viewed on computers, 28 percent on phones and tablets, and 6 percent on connected TVs. 1

<Illustrating the appeal of fantasy football, ESPN’s top story in July was a ranking of the top 300 fantasy football players, which received nearly 3 million views. Three of the top 10 stories on ESPN.com in July were fantasy football related. Meanwhile two stories about Ronda Rousey’s UFC 190 knock-out placed in the top ten and garnered nearly 3.4 million views combined. 1

<ESPN networks and ABC sports television content generated 6.9 million tweets in July, accounting for nearly 16 percent of all TV-related activity during the month.2

Two million unique authors wrote tweets about ESPN/ABC Sports content, representing almost one-third of all those tweeting about TV in July. 2

·Begins Sunday, Aug. 23, with special SC Featured on 10 a.m. ET SportsCenter

·ESPN.com content launches Monday, Aug. 24

·ESPN The Magazine devotes issue to New Orleans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Most citizens of New Orleans can likely describe three moments from the past 10 years in cinematic detail: their escape from the storm during Hurricane Katrina; where they were when Steve Gleason blocked the punt in the Saints’ first game back in the Superdome; and where they were when the Saints won the Super Bowl. These are the tent-poles of biography since Katrina, and in telling them, people reveal windows into their most unguarded selves. Everyone suffered through the storm, everyone cried when Gleason blocked the punt, and everyone still struggles to express the emotions they felt when the Saints won in Miami. It is through the lens of sports that ESPN will present a week of dedicated content marking the anniversary.

Special features and content include:

ESPN The Magazine

For the first time, the magazine will feature a single writer on a single subject. In a moving and ambitious piece, ESPN’s award-winning senior writer Wright Thompson spent several weeks in New Orleans leading up to Katrina’s 10th anniversary capturing the spirit of the city—from local coaches still trying to re-build youth football programs to sprawling new development butting up against history to a family fight worth billions pitting the owner of the town’s beloved Saints against his children and grandchildren. Thompson describes how the effects of Katrina are so ubiquitous they go unseen and to a certain extent unstated. The story will appear in the magazine, on newsstands Friday, Aug. 28, and Thompson will be featured on multiple ESPN programs, including SportsCenter. Complementary pieces will also be available on digital platforms, including a rich collection of original photography, photo galleries and video on ESPN.com.

Digital

·NFL: ESPN.com Saints reporter Mike Triplett toured the Superdome with Doug Thornton, who managed the facility during and after Katrina. Thornton discusses how far the building has come and how hard it is to believe, recalling memories of holding the place together during the five days after Katrina and spearheading its recovery.

·FiveThirtyEight: Examines a variety of Katrina-related topics through a data-driven lens. Contributors include chief economics writer Ben Casselman, lead news writer Carl Bialik, data reporter Hayley Munguia and Gary Rivlin, a former New York Times reporter and author of the upcoming book “Katrina: After the Storm.”

·Grantland: Holly Anderson will present a deep look into Tulane’s football program, which was decimated by Katrina. The timeline piece stretches from 2003, when Tulane was in danger of dropping down a division in football, through the struggles in 2005-06 following Hurricane Katrina and ultimately all the way to this fall, when the entire class of 2005 Tulane athletes will be enshrined in the school’s Hall of Fame. For the story, Anderson spoke with former players, current staff and AD Rick Dickson who has overseen the department through it all.

·The Undefeated: Jesse Washington provides a reported essay that conveys The African-American Moral of Hurricane Katrina. The disaster remains a seminal moment in America’s racial history, one of the biggest black catastrophes ever. The essay, which also features video by senior writer Jerry Bembry, connects Katrina to what’s going on right now with race in America — Baltimore, Ferguson, South Carolina, residential segregation, and “the undeserving poor” — illuminating the powerful, emotional place that Katrina holds in black America.

·First-Person: ESPN senior researcher Maya Jonesdescribes her personal experience living in New Orleans, fleeing from Katrina, her eventual return and remembering the experience from 10 years on.

·espnW: Contributing writer Walter Villa tells the story of Dominique Oden, now a senior at Marist high school in Georgia, who was just a kid when Hurricane Katrina devastated her hometown of New Orleans and forced her family to relocate. Since settling in the Atlanta area, Oden has starred on the basketball court, excelled in the classroom and plans to take her game and her brain to Purdue next year.

ESPN TV/Radio Programming

·SportsCenter: New Orleans native Stan Verrett, whose childhood neighborhood was devastated by the effects of Katrina, will host afternoon segments of SportsCenter from his hometown on Friday, Aug. 28. Verrett will also contribute pieces as part of ESPN’s week-long coverage, including one on his return with his mother, Dr. Joyce Verrett, to his parents’ home and neighborhood which have yet to fully recover from the hurricane’s destruction. In addition, Wright Thompson will join Verrett on this special edition of SportsCenter.

·The SC Featured segment on the Aug. 23 editions of SportsCenter (debuting at 10 a.m. ET) will focus on the 10th anniversary of Katrina’s devastation as athletes, celebrities and local residents pen and pronounce their dedication to the Crescent City in “Dear New Orleans.” Archie Manning and Steve Gleason, former players for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, and Chris Rose, whose post-Katrina writing gained worldwide acclaim, are among the contributors. Trailer: http://bit.ly/1MygDeD

·ESPN Films’ SEC Storied: “Wuerffel’s Way” will premiere on the SEC Network on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 9 p.m. ET. The documentary focuses on the journey of former University of Florida and New Orleans Saints quarterback Danny Wuerffel – from winning the Heisman Trophy and a National Championship to spearheading the Desire Street Academy in New Orleans, and then leading recovery efforts for that community outreach program after the devastation of Katrina 10 years ago. A special premiere of the film will air on ESPN on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (August 28, 7:30 p.m. ET). Advance review copies available upon request.

·ESPN Radio: Wright Thompson is a featured guest on the “His & Hers” podcast Monday, Aug. 24 with Michael Smith and Jemele Hill.

In addition, several writers and reporters will continue to contribute to ESPN’s week-long Katrina-related content across various platforms including NFL, NBA, MLB, and College Sports.

John Saunders, one of ESPN’s longest-tenured and most accomplished commentators, has reached a new multi-year agreement with ESPN, it was announced by Mark Gross, ESPN senior vice president, production and remote events. Saunders, who joined ESPN in 1986, will continue to appear on college football studio coverage, including anchoring regular-season Saturdays on ABC alongside Mack Brown and Mark May, and a hosting role on the College Football Playoff on ESPN. He will also call play-by-play on select college basketball games and will remain host of The Sports Reporters.

“John has done it all during his exceptional career,” Gross said. “Fans have become accustomed to his smooth and informative approach, and we are thrilled he will build upon his amazing run at ESPN.”

Saunders added, “I’m closing in on 40 years as a sportscaster, during which time I’ve covered or hosted The World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals, College Football title games and the Final Four. But I am most proud of the 28 plus years I’ve spent as part of our family here at ESPN. Bob (Ley), Boomer (Chris Berman) and I all started on SportsCenter, and the three of us are coming up on a combined 101 years at ESPN. How many places can say that? This is home.”

Since joining ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor, Saunders has hosted and/or provided play-by-play for a variety of sports – college football, college basketball, NHL, NBA, MLB, WNBA and more. In his role, he has traveled to many of the top sporting events, anchoring on-site coverage.

A former colleague and close friend of the late Jim Valvano, Saunders was a founding member and serves on the board of directors for The V Foundation for Cancer Research, and is actively involved in many of the organization’s fundraising events and initiatives.

He came to ESPN from WMAR-TV in Baltimore, where he had worked since 1982 as an anchor of three daily sports reports. He also hosted the Baltimore Orioles pre-game program Orioles on Deck and provided analysis for Baltimore Colts preseason games.

Saunders, a native Canadian, called play-by-play for the Toronto Raptors on CKVR-TV and CITY-TV (1995-2001). He was the main sports anchor for CITY-TV in Toronto from 1980-82 as well as ATV News in New Brunswick (1979-80) and CKNY-TV in Ontario (1978-79). In 1978, he was the news director for CKNS Radio in Espanola, Ontario.

An all-star defenseman in the Montreal junior leagues, Saunders received a scholarship and played hockey at Western Michigan from 1974-76. He then transferred to Ryerson Polytechnical in Toronto, where he was an all-star on the Ontario University Athletic Association.

While attending school, Saunders provided news reports for CHOO-Radio in Ajax, Ontario, and continued to play hockey. Saunders’ brother, Bernie, played left wing for the Quebec Nordiques in the NHL from 1979-1981.

DRAFTKINGS KICKS OFF LARGEST FANTASY FOOTBALL CONTEST EVER WITH $10 MILLION PRIZE POOL

ESPN and DraftKings to Bridge Season-Long and Daily Fantasy Football

ESPN Fantasy Football League Manager Player with Highest Finish in the DraftKings Millionaire Maker to be Awarded an Additional $1 Million for ESPN League Manager Leagues

Boston, Mass., and Bristol, Conn., August 5, 2015 – DraftKings Inc., a leading destination for daily fantasy sports, today announced the start of the $10 Million Guaranteed Millionaire Maker Fantasy Football Contest that will take place during Week One of the pro football season when the grand prize winner will walk away with $2 Million and the second place winner will take home $1 Million. ESPN, the leader in fantasy sports games and content for more than 20 years, is teaming up with DraftKings to award the ESPN Fantasy Football League Manager player who secures the highest number of fantasy points in the DraftKings Week One Millionaire Maker an additional $1 Million to split between all members of his or her season-long 2015 ESPN Fantasy Football League Manager league(s).

ESPN and DraftKings will bridge the season-long and daily contests for the first time through this event.

Fantasy football players can now enter the DraftKings $10 Million Guaranteed Millionaire Maker at www.draftkings.com/espn for the opportunity to turn the $20 entry fee into $2 Million and to win a piece of the $10 Million purse. The contest on DraftKings.com will include all of the pro football games on Sunday, September 13th, plus the two Monday night games on September 14th,which will be televised on ESPN – Philadelphia at Atlanta (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT) and Minnesota at San Francisco (10:20 p.m. ET / 7:20 p.m. PT). The Millionaire Maker grand prize winner and final leaderboard will be determined after the completion of Monday s games. Additionally, the ESPN Fantasy Football League Manager player who finishes with the highest-scoring entry will be awarded a bonus $1 Million to be shared with their ESPN League Manager league member(s). To create an ESPN League Manager league, players should go to www.espn.com/draftkings.

ESPN has been a leader in fantasy sports for over two decades, having launched the first online fantasy drafts and published fantasy sports content shortly after the launch of ESPN.com. Today, more than 12 million sports fans play ESPN Fantasy games across its four top games alone and ESPN Fantasy Football is the number one fantasy football game in the industry, with over 25 million transactions and 47 million alerts per week.

About DraftKings, Inc.

DraftKings, Inc. is a leading skill-based Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) gaming destination for fans in North America to compete in single-day online games for cash and prizes across the largest variety of professional and collegiate sports. DraftKings is the exclusive DFS partner of Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR, Major League Soccer, and Ultimate Fighting Championship. Founded in 2012 by CEO Jason Robins, CRO Matt Kalish and COO Paul Liberman, DraftKings is headquartered in Boston, Mass

ESPN and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will expand their relationship by offering an internship at ESPN that will begin in the summer of 2016.

The internship will be offered in memory of the contributions to sports journalism of Stuart Scott, the longtime ESPN anchor who died earlier this year after a long battle with cancer.

Interested students will apply for the internship, which will include pay and housing, via the NABJ Sports Task Force, which promotes diversity in America’s sports departments and provides programming toward developing the next wave of America’s sports journalists. Candidates will be submitted to ESPN from the NABJ Sports Task Force.

The NABJ holds its annual convention and career fair later this week in Minneapolis. ESPN has been a longtime sponsor of NABJ’s Sports Task Force Mentoring Breakfast at the convention and attends and supports the convention annually in its quest to identify potential new hires and provide a diverse workforce.

“The internship is a fitting tribute to extraordinary legacy of our beloved friend Stuart Scott,” said Rob King, ESPN senior vice president, SportsCenter and News. “It’s also a natural and necessary next step in the relationship of ESPN and the NABJ, because we’re always on the lookout for talented individuals who can contribute to and be a part of our future.”

ESPN coordinating producer Galen Gordon, who is vice president of broadcast for the NABJ Sports Task Force, spearheaded the formation of the internship.